Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Mark Your Calendars - Sometime and Somewhere on February 21 there will be the 2nd Annual Parking Workshop


Details will be announced as soon as somebody figures out how to use a calendar and post the information in Village Hall. 

It's an important date.  It will be 359 days since the last time the subject was discussed with the public, (2/27/2014).  

Speaking of dates, January 27, 2015 is the day that the Commission finally got it - parking is a problem on Harbor Island.  The catalyst was two variances, both deferred until after February, where the applicants were asking for parking variances on Harbor Island.  

It started with Chateau at 7939 West Drive.  This is a 60 year old building which has long had the spaces in front of the building for the residents but with the advent of BLU now MODA, they lost most of the spots and now there's nowhere to park.  They were proposing a variance to allow tandem parking in front of the building.  

The proposal has a number of issues - the handicapped space is probably in the wrong spot, it kills the sidewalk, does not have a clear plan to deal with conflict and moving cars - so the commission decided to postpone action until after the parking workshop.  

Across the street, at 7940 West Drive, the developer was asking for a variance to dedicate 20% of the parking to compact cars, then let it be known that once they got it, they intended to use the variance to reduce the overall parking availability to the original number now with smaller spaces.   It was a confusing and seemingly dishonest move and the commission did not vote on it.  

So now we wait for the Parking Workshop.  It does not bode well.  

In the last 359 days, the Village Manager has not managed to find out if the village can use the land next to the Shell station for temporary parking.  The Village Manager also does not know if the new projects can be obliged to provide parking to other residents.  The Village Manager has not been able to negotiate a solution between the 7904 Building and their self inflicted parking problem.  But hey, there will be a meeting, so it's up to us to propose solutions.  The Village Manager will then carefully study them and get back to the commission (and us) sometime. 

No word on whether or not the event will be catered. 

Kevin Vericker
January 28, 2015




1 comment:

  1. Haha, Kevin, You are just so cynical! But I guess that's what makes you so loveable!
    One point.. you hit the nail on the head about 7940 and their underhandedness.. so glad it didnt slip by the commission.. but on Chateau Isle, there are only 4 parking spaces that have been eliminated by the cul de sac installation... which are btw, PUBLIC spaces, not dedicated Chateau spaces (I get it, it's what you're used to, but facts are facts).. and WE will be getting back a dozen public spaces across the street as soon as Moda clears all its construction crap out of there. (Who gave them permission to use up so much of the street anyway?).. oh, there's me catching the Kevinitis!

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